Blogs By FansC70 At The Bat
Sponsor


Cardinals_WideSkyscraper.jpg

Baseball Schedule is your best source for the latest St Louis Cardinals Schedule information as well as keeping up with division rivals including Cubs Schedule, Reds Schedule, Brewers Schedule and Astros Schedule.

Bet on the Cardinals with Sports Interaction's MLB betting lines


Slots Galore Casino Tournaments

Get your tickets from Bubba! Cheap St. Louis Cardinals Tickets and more, including tickets for the next MLB All-Star Game. Bubba's got Boston Red Sox Tickets and New York Yankees Tickets

Authentic, large selection of Cardinals memorabilia, guaranteed and certified.

Subscribe
RSS Feed

Archives

Players

Categories


Alliance tickets has an extensive inventory of St. Louis Cardinals Tickets , Colorado Rockies Tickets, San Francisco Giants Tickets and Seattle MarinersTickets.

With all of the St Louis tickets out there, Cardinals tickets and Rams tickets make for great presents. GoTickets.com can fill all of your sports tickets needs, just check out our testimonials!

Cardinal Blogger Shuts Up, Cardinal Offense Heats Up

Posted on June 2, 2010 at 11:00 AM
Filed Under: Chicago Cubs | Cincinnati Reds | San Diego Padres | St. Louis Cardinals
I sincerely hope there's not a correlation, but since I last regularly blogged last week, the Cards have scored seven runs in all but two games, the first one I missed and the one of the UCB Progressive Game Blog, which I participated in.  If the Cardinals don't score runs tonight, I might have to take a month off.

You can read a description of some of these games in my weekly Baseball Digest column, so let's summarize before talking about Kyle Lohse's surgery and its implications, the return of Aaron Miles (say what?) and the Memphis shuttle.

Hero: Skip Schumaker.  Two hits, including a two-out double in the ninth that kept the game alive, and scored the only run.
Goat: Matt Holliday.  0-6 with two strikeouts.
Notes: At least they rallied.  They could have easily given up in the ninth and taken another 1-0 loss, but this team never does lay down and almost always makes the ninth interesting.

Hero: Brendan Ryan.  Great to see him have a big day with four hits, including a home run.  That seemed to key the offense.
Goat: Blake Hawksworth.  On a day when almost everything went right, when you give up three runs in a inning plus, you get the tag even when it didn't make much difference in the game.
Notes: Not sure exactly what magic they found here, but glad that this wasn't a one-time thing.  Albert Pujols went yard and almost did twice, so he seems to be finding his stroke.

Hero: Ryan Ludwick.  Two extra base hits, including a home run that made it serious.
Goat: Skip Schumaker.  Both he and Brendan Ryan were 0-4, so you really could flip a coin here.
Notes: As I noted in my Baseball Digest column, this was the epitome of the Cardinals' feast or famine outlook.  They score five runs before they get a single out (forcing a change in pitchers), then don't score again until the ninth.

Hero: Matt Holliday.  The only person that kept Carlos Silva from threatening to no-hit the club.
Goat: Colby Rasmus.  0-3 with three strikeouts and an error.  Pretty much a day you'd like to forget.
Notes: Not a terrible job by Adam Ottavino in his major league debut, though six walks is well on the high side.  We'll see if he's got better command in Milwaukee this weekend after some of the first start jitters are gone.

Hero: Albert Pujols.  The man is back.  His second three home run game in Wrigley.
Goat: Yadier Molina.  0-5 on a day when most everyone was getting on base one way or another.
Notes: Adam Wainwright continues to be a stud.  I don't think there's any doubt he's the ace of the club now.  Great to get a series win in Chicago as well!

Hero: Jaime Garcia.  Not only did he pitch effectively, coming back after the rain delay and settling in, but he also was 2-2 with a key walk at the plate.
Goat: Man, talk about a game without a Goat.  All the starters got hits and almost all of them got RBI as well.  The relief pitchers were very effective.  I guess we give Yadier Molina another one because he "only" got a hit and a walk in five plate appearances.  But I don't feel good about it.
Notes: Just a great way to spend a holiday.  It was a little surprising that Garcia came back after the rain delay, but it didn't seem to bother him too much after that first inning back.  Loved seeing the offense just click for a day.

Hero: Colby Rasmus.  Hated seeing the strikeout in the eighth, but he'd done enough by then to get the tag, with three hits including an early game-tying home run in the first.
Goat: I was going to go with PJ Walters when he allowed a two-out, two-run single after looking to escape a bases-loaded jam unscathed.  However, Dennys Reyes went and topped that.  After the Cards get a lead, he immediately comes in and allows two runs (well, Hawksworth allowed a sac fly and the run was scored to Reyes, but the point holds).  The worst part of this is that he couldn't get out Joey Votto and Jay Bruce in that span, both of whom are the type of lefties he is supposed to shut down.
Notes: If this offense is going to stick around, you'll never be able to quite count them out.  Even as the game got later, I kept expecting them to put that tying and go-ahead run across and, while they weren't able to, they kept getting chances and sooner or later, chances pay off.

It was interesting to read the PD story today about Tony LaRussa letting Jon Jay try to win the game.  Jay has started to really come around and it's interesting that he is still here after Allan Craig and Joe Mather have been sent down.  When you read through LaRussa's reasoning, it completely makes sense that you don't bunt Jay there.  Besides, sac bunts are overrated, right?  You wouldn't expect Jay to necessarily be doubled up, though that's what happened.

I had to do a double take when I saw Aaron Miles in the dugout last night.  I really thought that the signing of Miles would be one of those depth issues, that if two or three or ten people got hurt, Miles would be available.  Yet yesterday saw him called up in exchange for Allen Craig.  

Can't say I'm thrilled with that, since I was one that figured we'd gotten all we could out of Miles and had no problem with him signing with Chicago.  Since then he's hit .185 and been traded/released by three teams.  I guess he's an OK bench guy, but if he starts more than once a week, the team's in trouble.

The first time I wrote this post, this section had a nice discussion of the Lohse injury and the pitching possibilities on the market.  Since that didn't get kept, it'll be another post soon.  I know you are devastated, but I hope you can hold out.

Cards and Reds tonight for first.  Sam LeCure goes for the Reds, and he's one that the Cards haven't seen before.  Then again, he's only got one big league start so nobody's seen him before.  He didn't get rocked his first time out (which may give the Cards an edge, since they always get dominated by pitchers they don't know but the rest of the league kills) so we'll have to see how that pans out.

If it is a pitcher's duel, the Cards at least have an adequate weapon.  Chris Carpenter usually does pretty well against Cincinnati:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS SH SF IBB HBP GDP
Ramon Hernandez 28 27 4 1 0 0 2 1 5 .148 .179 .185 .364 0 0 0 0 1
Brandon Phillips 26 24 4 2 0 0 5 1 4 .167 .200 .250 .450 1 0 0 0 2
Orlando Cabrera 21 21 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 .143 .143 .143 .286 0 0 0 0 1
Scott Rolen 19 16 4 1 0 1 2 1 4 .250 .368 .500 .868 0 0 1 2 1
Miguel Cairo 17 15 4 1 1 0 2 1 4 .267 .353 .467 .820 0 0 0 1 0
Aaron Harang 16 16 1 0 0 0 1 0 5 .063 .063 .063 .125 0 0 0 0 0
Joey Votto 14 13 6 0 0 1 1 1 4 .462 .500 .692 1.192 0 0 0 0 0
Jay Bruce 13 13 2 0 1 0 1 0 3 .154 .154 .308 .462 0 0 0 0 0
Laynce Nix 12 11 2 0 0 1 1 1 2 .182 .250 .455 .705 0 0 0 0 0
Drew Stubbs 6 6 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 .333 .333 .500 .833 0 0 0 0 0
Jonny Gomes 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
Corky Miller 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 1 0 0 0 0
Bronson Arroyo 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Micah Owings 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 2.000 3.000 0 0 0 0 0
Total 183 171 33 7 2 3 15 6 39 .193 .233 .310 .543 3 0 1 3 5
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/2/2010.

Not much luck for these guys against Carp.  Plus he's faced the Reds twice this year and has a 1.39 ERA to show for it.  Could be third time's a charm, especially since the Reds are hitting well, but I don't know that I'd gamble on that.

Couple of notes:

--I'll be on the Baseball Digest LIVE show around 11:30 Central time in my role as head of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.  I'll be talking about the BBA and probably the Cardinals as well.

--Speaking of the BBA, one of the great bloggers from that organization is taking a baseball trip around the majors, seeing every stadium.  He recently was at Busch and you should read what he had to say.  If you've not read his other entries, they are well worth your time.

--Tonight is also the weekly UCB Radio Hour.  Tonight I'm flying solo, though scheduled to appear with me is Shawn from Chttp://fanhuddle.com/cincinnatireds/incinnati Reds Blog to talk about the NL Central race.  I'll need some callers tonight, so join me from 9:30 to 10:30 Central at 646-929-1758!


Leave a comment




Leave a comment




Cardinals_MediumRectangle.jpg

UCB_11_trans_dark_sm.png

Search



BallHyped Best Sports Blogs Book
This blog was featured in the Best Sports Blogs of 2010 Book!
• Pick up the limited print edition
• Free Best Sports Blogs ebook 


United Cardinal Bloggers

FRIENDS OF THE UCB


Download the iPhone or Android UCB app by clicking on the nice orange picture.
Open in Mobile App 

And check out the UCB Network over at LockerDome!
lockerdome-share_63x63.png
  



Other Cardinal Blogs

Recommended Cardinal Forum

Other Cardinal Sites

General Baseball Blogs/Sites



Heroes
Matt Holliday (5)
Matt Carpenter (4)
Rafael Furcal (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
Jon Jay (3)
Kyle Lohse (3)
Lance Lynn (3)
Yadier Molina (3)
David Freese (2)
Jaime Garcia (2)
Adam Wainwright (2)
Lance Berkman (1)
Allen Craig (1)
Shane Robinson (1)
Fernando Salas (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2011 Top Hero: Lance Berkman (24)
2010 Top Heroes: Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols (24)
2009 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (28)
2008 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (25)

Goats
Matt Holliday (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
David Freese (3)
Jaime Garcia (3)
Marc Rzepczynski (3)
Adam Wainwright (3)
Rafael Furcal (2)
Tyler Greene (2)
Jason Motte (2)
J.C. Romero (2)
Fernando Salas (2)
Mitchell Boggs (1)
Matt Carpenter (1)
Tony Cruz (1)
Daniel Descalso (1)
Jon Jay (1)
Erik Komatsu (1)
Kyle Lohse (1)
Victor Marte (1)
Eduardo Sanchez (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2011 Top Goat: Ryan Theriot (12)
2010 Top Goat: Brendan Ryan (14)
2009 Top Goats: Rick Ankiel and Todd Wellemeyer (13)
2008 Top Goat: Troy Glaus (13)

2012 Happy Flights
Happy Flights: 7
Happy Flight Opportunities: 12
Happy Flight %: 58%

Through 5/20

    Cardinal Nation Approval Ratings (March 2012)
    Adam Wainwright 91.9% (down 2.8%)
    Chris Carpenter 90.1% (up 3.2%)
    Lance Berkman 88.6%
    Tony La Russa 88.2% (up 17.4%)
    Yadier Molina 87.4% (up 3.7%)
    Matt Holliday 87.3% (down 3.8%)
    David Freese 85.5%
    John Mozeliak 85.4% (up 13.3%)
    Mike Shannon 85.3% (up 0.4%)
    Jose Oquendo 84.7%
    Derrick Goold 82.8% (down 5.0%)
    Mark McGwire 82.6% (up 20.1%)
    John Rooney 81.5% (down 2.8%)
    Mike Matheny 81.1%
    Bill DeWitt 79.8% (up 8.8%)
    United Cardinal Bloggers 78.9%
    Skip Schumaker 73.3% (up 9.2%)
    Jim Hayes 71.9% (down 4.2%)
    Jon Jay 71.1%
    B.J. Rains 69.5% (down 0.9%)
    Kyle Lohse 68.9% (up 13.8%)
    Dan McLaughlin 68.0%
    Joe Strauss 67.7% (up 10.2%)
    Ricky Horton 67.5% (down 1.6%)
    Al Hrabosky 66.4% (up 3.2%)
    Albert Pujols 54.9% (down 45.5%)
    Colby Rasmus 46.5% (down 35.3%)

    2011
    Dave Duncan 87.9% (up 0.9%)
    Matthew Leach 85.5%
    Pop Warner 76.7%
    Ryan Franklin 72.8% (up 3.1%)
    John Vuch 68.9%
    Jeff Luhnow 66.4%
    Dan Lozano 58.7%

    2009
    Rick Ankiel 83.9%
    Chris Duncan 69.1%


    Looking for St. Louis Cardinals Tickets?  TicketCity is your source for New York Yankees Tickets and World Series Tickets.

    Looking for Cardinals tickets? Stop by OnlineSeats. We’ve got Blues seats and even Rams games. Go to the coasts as well and catch a Celtics game or get Dodgers tickets.

    Referrals